Many motor vehicles, particularly sport utility vehicles, are equipped with rear seats that can be moved from a seating configuration, in which passengers can sit in the seat, to a so-called “load floor” configuration where the back support of the seat is folded downwardly to assume a horizontal orientation and thereby facilitate cargo stowage in the van. Typically, locking mechanisms are provided for holding the seat in the seating configuration, and the locking mechanisms can be released to permit moving the seat to the load floor configuration.
Various arrangements have been proposed for retracting a headrest of the seat in order to provide the seat with a more compact profile when folded. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,940 shows several embodiments of a seat having an adjusting mechanism for adjusting the height of a headrest according to the pivoting of a seatback relative to a seat cushion.